I love to see stuff like this because it helps explain to people trapped in tech-sponsored information bubbles the actually obvious fact that universities teach people to know & think things, and AI is a way to produce the effect of knowing & thinking things w/o actually knowing & thinking them.

I beg a major publication to publish a list of Nobel Prize winner who are immigrants to this country.

This is a bad idea. Recruiting talented people from other countries is a good thing. American universities have been very good at it in particular. Recruiting talented people tends to benefit everyone. We should keep doing it. I am speaking in short sentences for the benefit of the Governor.

The Python Software Foundation had been awarded a grant from NSF to improve the security of Python, but this being 2025, they were required to give up on the DEI efforts funded by the grant, and thus decided to decline it. If you use Python for your work, consider donating! More info here:

Seeking a three year postdoc in the field of ocean biogeochemistry and productivity using mechanistic models and synthesis of observations. Note the short fuse for applications. Please help distribute. All nationalities welcome to apply! 🌊 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPG117/p...

All of my students have heard me tell horror stories about people who don't back up their work. I have a new one: Andrew Lloyd Webber lost the score for the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera to his cat, who jumped on his electronic piano and pressed "erase": playbill.com/article/cat-...

The Python Software Foundation had been awarded a grant from NSF to improve the security of Python, but this being 2025, they were required to give up on the DEI efforts funded by the grant, and thus decided to decline it. If you use Python for your work, consider donating! More info here:

The government demanding a billion dollars from UCLA.

🌊 #Postdoc position available 📍 At WHOI with Dr. Le Bras Analyse data from moored oxygen as part of the Overturning and Horizontal circulation of the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (GOHSNAP). Requirements ✅ PhD in physical #oceanography To apply: whoi.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WHOI-E...

UCLA must release Trump's extortion demands. Courts side with UCLA Faculty Association to force release of public documents. The 28 page letter should be released by Friday. Big victory for @uclafa.bsky.social, all faculty, students, parents, and Californians www.latimes.com/california/s...

If you’re looking to do a PhD in the US, it’s a mess out there. Words by me ⬇️

I let the SSD of my Mac get to 99% usage and let me tell you, don’t do this.

At this moment, it makes a huge difference to have a University President that’s more than a mere administrator or fundraiser. We need leaders who understand what makes a University a uniquely valuable institution and are willing to go to the mat to defend that vision.

The Trump administration had high hopes that its compact would be accepted by every university. Alas, it appears that every university rejected the administration except for its safety school. open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...

🌊 a chance to learn how to use a whole pile of amazing NASA Earthdata tools in cloud.

Speaking as a professor, the why is easy. There is less money to pay grad students, and more uncertainty, so to avoid getting ourselves in a position where we can’t pay students the salaries we promised them (students get paid), we take fewer students.

If you’re going to have a doppelgänger, get yourself a famous movie director or, like @naomiaklein.bsky.social, one you can write a good book about. Mine is, last time I checked, in jail in Florida. **sad trombone**.

Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs - Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75% - Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60% - Social Sciences by 50–70% - History by 60% - Biology by 75% - The German department will lose all PhD seats - Sociology from six PhD students to zero

Postdoc vacancy: Microbial dormancy in the cryosphere @erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA 📢 PLEASE RT 🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, cell sorting, omics, ecological interpretation ☀️ Marseille, France ‼️ Apply ASAP & before 7 Nov Link: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

I heard “the cloud is just someone else’s computer” years ago and I never forgot.

New: Researchers are broadly rejecting the Trump administration's compact. In faculty votes and student protests, they have mobilized to pressure their universities—to some effect: 6 of the original 9 universities have rejected the compact With @alexwitze.bsky.social and @jennaahart.bsky.social:

W/ @genevievelakier.bsky.social, the @aaup.org today released a letter to the Offices of the General Counsel at US colleges & universities. We detail why the Compact violates the Constitution & urge that no one signs it. www.aaup.org/sites/defaul...

Maybe I can say *I* also run on AWS and need to go home and take a nap while the issue is resolved?

Of the original nine schools that received the Trump administration's Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, the majority have indicated they are not planning on signing. n.pr/47x4Bmd

The snake is growing. ✊🏽✊🏻✊🏿✊🏾✊🏼 Vanderbilt, Texas, AZ…now’s the time. The world is watching. The resistance is here. #NoLoyaltyOaths #NoKings #DefendHigherEd

4 universities have now said no—to Trump’s Faustian bargain- Penn, USC, Brown, and MIT. Standing up- by AAUP and AFT, our members, our students & our communities- is working. www.cnn.com/2025/10/16/u...

New from AAUP PENN: “The compact is, sadly, just one of many examples of intensifying political interference in higher education. All institutions must follow the examples of M.I.T., Brown & now Penn to reject the compact & any thinly veiled repackaging of it in the future.” @aaup-penn.bsky.social

USC IS OUT! Let me tell y'all, the emergency meetings that got called yesterday and today... dailytrojan.com/2025/10/16/u...

University administrators seem to be learning from Columbia: if you give up your lunch money today, they’ll just come back tomorrow. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...

If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education. We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.

🚨PERMANENT POSITION OPENING🚨 A lecturer position is opening at LOCEAN on the topic: ‘Impact of climate change on marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean’ (permanent position with the French Natural History Museum, for a researcher that will be based at LOCEAN, in the centre of Paris).

We are looking for 2 more guest editors :-) Further information on the participants and general insights on OAEPIIP can be found here: 🌊 appliedbgc.imas.utas.edu.au/ocean-alkali...

We are currently proposing a special issue in Biogeosciences to publish individual experiments of the "Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Pelagic Impact Intercomparison Project #OAEPIIP". Let me know if you are keen to serve as guest editors for the special issue ☺️ 🌊 bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/...

The IPY-5 ExCom is seeking bids to host the International Coordination Office for the 5th International Polar Year (2032–33). The office will operate from early 2027 through at least 2035, supporting global polar research collaboration. 🗓️ Expressions of interest close 6 Feb 26. bit.ly/4he5rrr

A request for weather interested volunteers! Met Eireann would like to rescue millions of weather observations taken in Ireland over many decades that are still stuck on paper. #WeatherRescue Anyone can help: www.zooniverse.org/projects/met...

Expert here. The weird thing is I don't expect people to trust me (on my specialty) just because. Expertise is all about knowing the broader context of new results, what's clear & what's not, and most experts are happy to help people through this if they're interested in 'doing their own research'.

UGH! When will it end. 😭 "Effective October 15, 2025, due to non-renewed funding, NSIDC has suspended or reduced several Sea Ice Today tools and services." nsidc.org/data/user-re...

🚨Reporters🚨 I'm looking for a reporter who's can zoom into my graduate professional development class and talk about interviewing scientists (e.g., what makes a good interview, how can scientists help reporters, ...).

Breaking News: Brown University became the second college to reject a White House deal offering preferential treatment for federal grants.

This is more than 4 times the annual budget of the National Science Foundation.

Great news.

ICE is targeting the Super Bowl for the sin of having a Puerto Rican (i.e., American) artist who sings in Spanish. It's extremely easy to extrapolate those plans to events in "blue cities" filled with soccer-loving fans from all over the world.

This UVA rally — which is sponsored by student, faculty, & staff groups — will protest the Trump regime's efforts to take over American universities & demand that UVA not cooperate, as it did this summer. Friday, noon, at the Rotunda. C-ville community members are encouraged to attend.

"China Has Overtaken America--And Trump’s policies guarantee that we will never catch up" by @pkrugman.bsky.social paulkrugman.substack.com/p/china-has-...

Years ago, Chilean students had a 'kissing' protest where they just gathered in one place and... made out. They were fighting for free education. This was genius because it made news all over the world and drove their opposition absolutely nuts. Portland gets it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wcD...

investment would have solved an actual, known problem. But suddenly large language models come along -- which solve no known problem -- and trillions of dollars magically appear? What fresh hell is this?

Every time the cost of investment needed to decarbonise came up over the last several decades, we were told the money needed for the investment just isn't there (even though it would avoid costs and be profitable in the long run). Such

Layoff notices at JPL are going out today. About 11% of the Lab, or 550 people, are being let go. I'm thinking of my friends and colleagues there, some of whom will still be employed after today and some of whom won't. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this.

Faculty and Student Unions understand that the only way through this is by university communities joining forces. When will administrators listen?

As a guy with a Hispanic first name, a Scottish last name, and an unmissable Spanish accent, this seems less than ideal.